Organizers of the event the past four years -- the Las Cruces Boys and Girls Club, said Monday they will no longer be involved.

"The Boys and Girls Club board of directors decided not to do it any more," said Ken Hoeksema, a member of the Boys and Girls Club advisory board, and the person responsible for coordinating tournament efforts the past four years. "It is a lot of work to put on an event like that."

The Gus Macker website, macker.com, didn't show Las Cruces as one of its stops in 2014. However, Gus Macker's tournament schedule includes events in Alamogordo, on May 17, Artesia on June 7, and in Hobbs on July 26.

In a post on the Sun-News Facebook page, former Las Crucen Sarah Hernandez Garcia, who now lives in Tucson, was disappointed twofold. She has seen the value the family-oriented event has had on Las Cruces youths, and it has helped her family make extra money.

"What a bummer," she said. "We look forward to traveling to Las Cruces for this event. (It has been) a great way to get kids involved in sports and not other activities! Plus, my family sets up as a vendor."

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Las Crucen Jaime Saenz is also frustrated the event isn't going to return.

"It's like they are taking away things for the younger people of Las Cruces," Saenz said. "This is also a college town, not just a retirement community. One of the things Cruces should be attracting is more things for young people to do here, especially in recruiting new college students to the university. One also looks at what the community offers for young people."

Hoeksema said staging the annual tournament, which is open to people of all ages, has been expensive. He estimated it cost about $75,000 last year to conduct the two-day event.

"For the amount of work involved and the money you make, it's not worth it," Hoeksema said. "I feel badly because it's become something a lot of people have looked forward to."

Last year, about 500 teams participated in the event. Hoeksema said considering most of the four-player teams bring as many as six additional people with them to the event, the number of participants and spectators at the event can become quite large. Teams from throughout New Mexico, far west Texas and southern Arizona have often come to Las Cruces to play in the tournament, and Hoeksema believes that has had a positive effect on the city's economy.

"I don't know exactly how much that might be, I've never seen any kind of study," Hoeksema said. "But with those teams coming from throughout the region, I'm pretty confident the economic impact to the city has been significant. Of the 500 teams we had last year, close to half were from out of town."

The Gus Macker 3-on-3 Tournament has been played in Las Cruces every year since 1995. Thousands of players, most of them younger children, have taken part in the tournament, which divides players by age and skill level. In numerous ways, the tournament has closely followed how casual backyard or driveway basketball should be played.

But because of the event's popularity, it has provided an economic benefit to Las Cruces. Players from throughout New Mexico, far west Texas and southern Arizona have traveled to Las Cruces to play in the event.

The Gus Macker was initially played at the Hadley Complex, on Hadley Avenue near Meerscheidt Recreation Center. But since the event was taken over by the Las Cruces Boys and Girls Club, the event was staged in the east parking lot at the Field of Dreams, also known as the Las Cruces Public Schools Sports Complex, off of Tashiro Road.

The tournament currently conducts indoor and outdoor competitions annually in more than 75 cities nationwide, according to the website Wikipedia.org. The tournament schedule for 2014 currently lists 24 events, but the Gus Macker website said more venues could be added. Altogether, more than 200,000 players and 1.7 million spectators are anticipated to play in, or watch, Gus Macker tournaments in the coming year.

Steve Ramirez can be reached at 575-541-5452

Game over

Gus Macker in Las Cruces: The tournament has been played in Las Cruces since 1995. It was always played in the spring. Initially, the tournament was played at the Hadley Complex, on Hadley Avenue near Meerscheidt Recreation Center. For most of the years the event staged in Las Cruces, it was organized by the Hispano Chamber of Commerce de Las Cruces. The past four years, the Las Cruces Boys and Girls Club has staged the tournament. The city of Las Cruces has provided in-kind services to help organizers stage the event

What now: With the tournament leaving the city, the Gus Macker 3-on-3 will be played in 2014 in Alamogordo, on May 17; in Artesia, on June 7; and in Hobbs on July 26

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